No Waiting To Exhale With Breath-testing Mobile

Weir is the alcohol program coordinator for the Normal Police Department, and his van's acronym stands for "breath-alcohol testing."

The vehicle, which carries equipment that enables officers to perform free "educational" breath-alcohol tests, made a recent appearance in the parking lot of the Beacon Tap, 1374 Lee St., Des Plaines.

While there, Weir, worked with Des Plaines's Sgt. Michael Krueger and other officers to teach holiday revelers about the effects drinking can have on their driving.

"The goal of the program is awareness, not enforcement," said Krueger. After helping to administer 7,000 breath tests during about 100 stops in Illinois over four years.

Sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Normal Police Department, the program grew out of a similar alcohol education campaign in Normal. It is often conducted near the Illinois State University campus there.

"We put in a proposal for a state grant" to get it going, he said, and over the life of the program, state contributions have totaled about $500,000.

About one of three people tested in the B.A.T. mobile are found to be over the legal level of intoxication for driving, Weir said.

"Education campaigns have done a wonderful job in teaching people that the legal blood-alcohol limit is 0.10 (grams of alcohol a 100 milliliter of blood) but a terrible job of explaining that even with levels of 0.05 you still can be arrested if your driving is impaired," he said.

Fatigue, mental stress, recent meals and other factors affect these levels of impairment, said Krueger.

Weir has noticed that although many people tend to overestimate their levels of intoxication, they may also underestimate their levels of impairment, he said.

"People might come in after drinking eight beers over three hours, and when they blow a 0.07, they say `I thought I'd be way over that,' " Weir said.

"This is the first time we've had the unit in Des Plaines, and we're happy to have it," Krueger said. "We're hoping people will learn something about their tolerance levels by coming back several times during the night."

Krueger, who has spent a lot of time on DUI prosecutions, hopes he provided some useful information during the visit, he said.